SOARING EAGLE NEWS
DECEMBER 2022
ATTENDANCE MATTERS
When a student is absent from school for any reason, parents are to send in a written note to the teacher explaining the absence or email the school at cypresswoodses.absence@pcsb.org and copy the teacher on the email. Absences will remain unexcused until such documentation is received by the school. Children with poor attendance patterns may be referred to the Pinellas County Truancy Intervention Program. Class work is required to be made up during or after an excused absence. Upon returning to school following an excused absence, a student has as many days to make up the work as days absent. A doctor’s note is required to excuse a student from PE for more than 3 days and documentation is required for absences exceeding 5 days. Below are some helpful hints to help your student maintain healthy attendance habits.
Mark Your Calendars
12/15 - Cyber Safety Presentation 6:00 PM
12/21 - Chorus & Drum & Orff Ensemble 6:30 PM
12/23 - 1/6 - Winter Break, School Closed
1/9 - School Resumes
SEE BELOW ATTACHMENT FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF STUDENT DAYS OFF FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR
Message From Our School Counselor
You are invited to attend a Cybersafety Parent Presentation on Thursday, December 15 from 6-7pm in the Media Center. We are excited to welcome Lily Petrovic and Brooke Smith from the Pinellas County Schools Office of Prevention. The presentation will include how to keep your children safe with technology, gaming systems, and social media apps. There will be a Q and A’s session to help with individual questions and concerns.
This is a very important topic to keep our children safe and I hope to see all our CWE parents there. Please see attached flyer for more information.
Due to the nature of the content- this presentation is for parents ONLY. If you have any questions, please email Laura Trudell at trudelll@pcsb.org Thank you for your partnership in your child’s education,
Laura Trudell, School Counselor
NOTES FROM OUR NURSE, JENNIFER REZNICK
For those who have been fortunate enough not to have noticed yet, Flu season is upon us-EARLY! We have seen a noticeable uptick in absences related to flu and flu like illnesses. Common symptoms we are seeing are high fevers, vomiting, chills, and fatigue.
So how can you avoid getting sick yourself? Good handwashing is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of illness. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water. If soap and water isn’t available an alcohol-based hand sanitizer is just as good! Wipe down hard surfaces with a disinfectant cleaner and wash bedding and other soft items in hot water. Don’t forget those commonly touched places like doorknobs, toilet handles, and TV remotes! And of course, Get your Flu shot!
Most importantly if you are sick-STAY HOME! Rest is important for a full and speedy recovery! If you do start to show symptoms of the flu: Sudden high fever, chills, body aches-get to the Doctor! For Tamiflu (The prescription treatment for the flu) to be effective, it must be started within 48 hours of symptom onset. Wearing a mask while symptomatic can be helpful in protecting others against transmission.
Finally, I would just like to remind everyone of Pinellas County School Board’s policy regarding flu and flu like illness. Students may return to school 5 days after onset of symptoms, or when active signs of illness are no longer present. Students must be fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications for 24 hours before returning to school. That means, if your child had a fever of 101 at noon on Monday, they are not yet ready to come back to school on Tuesday, even if they woke up that morning fever free. If they remain fever free for the entire day on Tuesday, then they may return on Wednesday.
If your student falls ill at school you will be contacted, and the student will need to be picked up within 15 min. Please make sure you have alternate contacts authorized to pick up your child in case you are unable to be at the school in a timely manner. While we understand many parents work out of the area, it is necessary ill students be picked up in a timely fashion. The clinic does not have adequate space to hold sick students for prolonged periods of time. Additionally, the longer your student is in the clinic, the more opportunity they have to be exposed to other illnesses. The sooner a student is picked up, the sooner families can start treatment, which may prevent serious illness or complications
Thank you for your help in keeping our scholars healthy!
Rotary Student of the Month
SAFETY PATROL OF THE MONTH
Skyler does a wonderful job at front car line. In the beginning of the year, she went ABOVE AND BEYOND by helping a student with a medical restriction get out to the car line by going to his classroom and helping him carry his backpack and accompanying him to make sure he made it out there OK. Skyler greets people with a smile on her face even when she is not on duty! She is an awesome leader, always making sure the other patrols are on task and paying attention. She is an excellent representation of what a Safety Patrol should strive to be.
Notes From Kim Shipley, Family & Community Liaison
Happy Holidays Volunteers!
I want to say “Thank you” to our Great American Teach In participants for an amazing day! Thanks for sharing your passion and sparking the minds of our students and encouraging them to explore the many opportunities available to them. Also, thank you to all our volunteers who helped with the check-in process, chaperoning our guest and making sure our refreshments were kept up to date. You're the BEST! Laura M. and Ronan M., this event would not have been as successful without your help behind the scenes. Thank you for the many, many hours you contributed to this cause and your generous donations for the refreshments table...you really went above and beyond and we are blessed to have had your help this year❤
I also want to thank all of our amazing volunteers for everything you do to support our school, our teachers and our students. Please remember to enter all your volunteer hours in the volunteer system. Every hour counts: Classroom Assistance, Lunch Pals, Field Trips, PTA, SAC, Volunteer Café, Great American Teach In, helping from home, meetings, etc. The hours are the most important, so don’t worry about the dates, just chunk the hours and enter them by task. Instructions for entering hours is attached, please let me know if you have any trouble navigating the system. These hours are important because they are reported to Tallahassee twice a year to show the community involvement at our school and its impact on our students.
If you are a Level 1 volunteer and are interested in obtaining your Level 2, please follow this link to see the approved fingerprinting locations: https://www.pcsb.org/Page/12334Please You should follow up with me 7 – 10 days after fingerpainting to see if your volunteer status has been updated. Level 2 allows you to be unsupervised with students on campus and on field trips. It costs about $50 and last for 5 years.
Reminder: ONLY staff and students are permitted in the cafeteria during lunchtime. The only exception would be to purchase lunch from the cafeteria, then you may go through the lunch line to do so, however you should not approach the students. If you need to speak with a student for Lunch Pals or as a parent while they are in the cafeteria, please seek out a staff member to retrieve them. This applies to both our Level 1 and Level 2 volunteers.
Thanks again for the gift of your time and volunteering. I wish you all a happy and safe holiday season and all the best in the new year!
Kim Shipley
Family & Community Liaison
Cypress Woods Elementary
4900 Cypress Woods Blvd
Palm Harbor, FL 34685
727-538-7325 ext. 2045
New Volunteers register online now at: www.pcsb.org/volunteerregistration
Lunch Pal Mentors needed, sign up at: www.pcsb.org/mentorUpdates From Our PTA
Teacher Favorites:
PTA gave teachers an opportunity to provide a list of their favorites as we approach the holiday season; those have been posted on our website www.cypresswoodspta.com If you do not see your teacher’s list, you can check back, as we continue to add to the list daily.
Giving Tree:
All giving tree gifts are due by December 14th; unwrapped and please include the tag with your gift. If you have misplaced the original tag, please include your child’s name/teacher name with the gift. If you are unable to shop but would like to contribute, we are happy to send our elves to do the shopping; please send in a Walmart, Target, Amazon gift card or cash donation. All donations need to be marked CWE PTA Giving Tree.
Volunteering:
We had a little difficulty finding volunteers for movie night. As we approach the second semester, PTA has some wonderful activities on the calendar, but we need to know we have volunteers to make it all happen! If you are willing to serve as a Committee Chair or Member for one of our Spring Activities, please email cweptaboard@gmail.com Below are a few of the upcoming activities and needs:
- Parent Daughter Dance: Chair – Ashleigh Anderlik (1-2 additional Committee members/volunteers)
- Spring Fling/Eagle Fest + Auction – This is in very beginning planning and MUST have a committee to proceed.
- Run Club – I believe we are good on volunteers, and we will be in touch once we have days/times worked out with school. If you are interested and not already on volunteer list for run club, email CWE PTA.
- Staff Appreciation Week – 3-4 person committee? Need a Chairperson
Emily Sikes
PTA President
Sign Up For Bus Updates!
Opt in For CWE Text Alerts
Using the list below, sign up under the grade of your youngest student in order to receive text alerts about school events, PTA and volunteering. (The information will be the SAME on all accounts, so you should only sign up under one class…)
To 81010, please text the following:
- PRE K @b49fk3
- KINDERGARTEN @24b47f
- 1ST GRADE @cf6c38
- 2ND GRADE @9f7edc
- 3RD GRADE @cwethi
- 4TH GRADE @2ce39k7
- 5TH GRADE @e26kb9
Cypress Woods Elementary
Email: cypresswoodses.absence@pcsb.org
Website: pcsb.org/cypress-es
Location: 4900 Cypress Woods Boulevard, Palm Harbor, FL, USA
Phone: 727-538-7325
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cypresswoodses/
Twitter: @cypresswoodses